Mr Burrad-Lucas’s images showcase the black panther’s dazzling yellow eyes as it steps out in the night to hunt for prey.

“I took the photos last month and believe the black panther, in this case a melanistic African leopard, is around two years old,” he said.

“Black panthers are iconic creatures and yet very few images of wild black panthers exist.

“This is not just because leopards are extremely secretive and hard to see, but also because only a tiny percentage of leopards are completely black.”

The photographer has been trying to capture the leopard for years. Picture: Will Burrad-Lucas/Caters NewsSource:Caters News Agency

Mr Burrad-Lucas said he had been fascinated by stories of black panthers since childhood.

“In Africa, black leopards are incredibly rare and until now, the only images of them have been fleeting shots taken from great distance or grainy images from low-quality trail cameras,” he said.

“As far as I know, this is the first series of high-quality camera trap images of a wild black leopard ever captured in Africa.”

Nicholas Pilfold PhD, a lead researcher for a leopard conservation program in Laikipia County, Keyna, said: “We had always heard about black leopard living in this region, but the stories were absent of high quality footage that could confirm their existence.”